Retail Deals for 10/26 - 11/1
Disclaimer: Deals may not be available in all stores. Prices in each store may differ. You can try different stores to mitigate this, and always ask if a store has it before writing them off. You might be able to get a raincheck. A lot of these deals are in-store only, except where specified.

Not too shabby this week - especially if you like new releases. Both Best Buy and Circuit City are offering discounts or bonuses for buying new release titles.

Circuit City, bless their bleeding finances, is offering a lot of add-ons. Buying the Guitar Hero: World Tour Guitar Pack nets you an iTunes card for $15. Guitar Hero may not be an RPG, but if it's something you want anyway then iTunes does have Square-Enix's Song Summoner for $5. The extra $10 could go to your favorite bands for powering up your characters, since you have to listen to the songs to make them stronger.

Circuit City is also offering Fable 2 with a free $10 gift card with purchase. Same for Golden Axe: Beast Rider, Socom: Confrontation, Little Big Planet, Bioshock (PS3), Saints Row 2, Dead Space (Awesome Space more like, amirite?), and Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway - all net you $10 in gift cards. The deal appears to be stackable, as well. If you've been thinking about these and want them, now's not a bad time to do so. Remember that the gift card comes after the transaction, so get all but one of what you want first, then use the gift cards on the next transaction for something else.

Of course, you could put it towards an RPG - Star Ocean: First Departure for the PSP is $30 this week at Circuit City, down from $40. Finally, they have wireless 360 controllers for $45 (normally $50), and the wireless 360 adapter for $90 (normally $100).

Best Buy may not have Circuit City's gift cards, but Final Fantasy 7: Crisis Core is down to $30 and they do price match Circuit City last I checked. They're also the only place I've seen the PlayStation Network cards. They're not on sale, but they are $20 and ensure you don't have to use your credit card online or link it to your account. There's stuff like Wild Arms, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, and additional Folklore content keep you busy. Best Buy's new release stuff is non-RPG price cuts.

Target is offering a $25 dollar gift card with the purchase of the Arcade 360 Bundle. The Arcade may suck and is getting phased out, but Target also had the 20 gig hard drive on clearance. World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade is also a whopping $2 off this week.

Atlus is putting out Eternal Poison, Persona 4, and Luminous Arc 2 all with bonus soundtracks and artbooks for pre-order, for those interested. If you're interested in collecting, both Atlus' Master of the Monster Lair and Majesco's Away Shuffle Dungeon look to have a small print run, though it's unclear if the latter is out yet or on December 3. Fallout 3 hits stores this week as well. It also has a collector's edition. Finally, plenty of Fable 2 CE's shipped without their bonus materials. You'll have to contact Microsoft to get it.

Last week I promised Christmas tips and it's time to deliver. By Christmas tips, I mean survival stuff - what to do and what not to do during Christmas shopping. I know both sides of the counter, so I'll try to be as balanced as possible. The first tip is also the hardest, so let's get it out of the way.

For shoppers: If you have kids, don't bring your kids with you. A lot of times you're shopping for them anyway so they're probably not with you, but any time you are shopping find a way to have them watched or leave them at home. Seriously, you want to get shopping done probably as quick as possible and your kids are slowing you down. Christmas is meant to appeal to children as much as inhumanly possible. Stores know kids will do anything to decide where your dollar goes. Having them in the store means that there's more stuff to catch their eye. And kids like to touch - even the sweetest angel wants to grab at stuff that's shiny. From a store's perspective, that's possible time needed to be spent cleaning a up an avoidable mess that can't be spent with customers.

It's time to fight the hell back. Have the kids choose what they want out of catalogs or online (this way you can also control what they see, tee hee) and go from there. Once you know what to look for you can hit up a store and be finished. DOn't be afraid to ask the employees where the stuff is either - you get out of there quicker.

If you do take your kids with you, please set some ground rules. Time limits, what they can and can't touch - that sort of thing. It will make your shopping experience easier and faster.

If the employee is being a jerk about your kids, report them to a manager and then don't shop there. Remember your money is important. It's a valid tool to keep businesses in business.

For retailers: Don't turn into an automatic jerk the moment you see kids. Be helpful - showing the kids what they want will keep them occupied and the parent happy: they now have an idea for Christmas gifts. If there is an unattended child destroying stuff (and sadly, that will happen) tell them 'no' in a firm voice and then politely ask where the parent is. Never touch the kid; that's a huge no-no. Never deign to take discipline into your own hands if the thought crosses your mind - that firm 'no' is probably already pushing it with the parent. Remind the parent (very politely) that, unfortunately, your store does not allow unattended children for this very reason. If the child is entirely unattended, consult your store for the right procedure.

Smaller stores may want to just call the police if no parent is in the store with the child - that's considered abandonment here in Pennsylvania. There's obviously an age limit, though. Twelve and above do not count.

Finally, remember not to be rude. You could cost yourself your job over a small infraction if the customer follows up.

That's it for this week. Next week I'll start with the in-store survival tips. Contact me if you have any tips you would like to share.

Have fun.